Save Afghan Women & Children with Health Care

AIL runs a comprehensive Health Program that encompasses health treatment, health education and health training. Workshops that relate to pregnancy and childbirth are highly regarded and quickly fill up once posted. Women know that the country has an alarmingly high rate of maternal death and injury and infant mortality. Women want to do the right thing to be safe, once they know what that is. AIL has given two Reproductive Health Workshops for 80 women in the last 2 months with the total for the year now at 285 women trained.

AIL’s 3 hour Expectant Mother Workshop (EM) is another quick and easy way for these women to learn what they need to know. The topics covered include: antenatal and postnatal care, safe childbirth and infant care, child spacing and breast feeding as well as the importance of keeping in touch with clinics or Community Health Workers. The workshops are held in more remote areas where women have few medical options. The women are under  AIL clinic observation and report back with their newborn for 3 months following birth.

One participant said, "This is the first time that we attended such a workshop and this is the first organization that gives workshops like this for the pregnant women in our area. This shows AIL really cares and reaches out to all people. At the end of the workshop we received a nice new baby kit that contained a hat, pinafore, swaddling, band swaddling, shirt, sun suit, pads and diapers, panties and soap.” So far in 2014, AIL has given 13 EM Workshops for 340 women (170  pregnant) and remarkably all of the births recorded so far were at clinics rather than a risky home birth situation. In addition to its focused workshops, AIL has provided thousands of women with reproductive health education through the AIL clinics and Community Health Workers posts.

Thank you for your interest in Afghan women’s health issues. We have included Creating Hope International’s 2014 newsletter which contains information on AIL’s work. We hope that you will take a moment to read through it.

• Newsletter2014_FINAL_v2.pdf (PDF)
  

The Safer World Fund has selected our project to support through a 50% match on all donations made while funds last! Your donation of $10 becomes $15, or $50 becomes $75.

Since you have supported our project in the past, you know that the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) programs seeks to help Afghans reach their full potential. Recently, Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, founder and CEO of AIL, said that she believes that in order for people to reach their full potential they need to be educated, healthy, safe and have a stable economy. When people do not feel safe, they cannot leave their houses. This means they cannot get an education or work, and when this happens, the whole economy suffers. Also, when a person is malnourished, they cannot learn or work. 

AIL is helping to address all four of these issues through it’s programs. AIL offers Afghans a safe place to come and learn by working closely with the communities where its programs exist. These programs offer education, including health education and resources on how to live a healthy life, which lead to people having the skills they need to be employed. People who are employed contribute to the economy and the security of a community. AIL’s holistic programs address all of the needs of those that they work with in a culturally sensitive manner, and in the end the communities are better educated, healthier, more economically stable and ultimately safer.

We thank you for your past contributions to our efforts to provide healthcare to Afghan women. As the situation continues to change in Afghanistan, your support has become even more important. We hope that you will rise to the challenge and help us take advantage of this matching opportunity!

AIL’s health program truly is a life saver; providing people with quality care where there are few, if any, other medical options. The health program is based on a holistic approach providing treatment and education together. So far in 2014, over 119,000 people have received care through clinics or Community Health Worker posts (CHWs), and health education has reached over 69,000 through clinics, CHWs, and workshops. This quality of care and extraordinary reach of the AIL program would not be possible without donations from people like you. Thank you.

Here are a couple of the many life saving and life changing stories we hear:

A clinic patient:” Lailoma, a pregnant woman came to clinic about 20 weeks ago. She had high blood pleasure and high temperature. She was prescribed some tablets then she had to come to clinic every two weeks. On week 36 after a checkup, she was referred to hospital in the city for an operation. Fortunately, it was successful  and her baby girl was healthy after birth. On the tenth day  after her delivery, Lailoma came to clinic to thank the staff for saving her and child’s lives.”

From a reproductive health workshop participant: “My name is Anita and I strongly suggest that AIL hold such workshops for all Afghan women in order to decrease the rate of child and maternal death. I am a university student and the topics shocked me. It is so vital for every woman to attend such workshops and learn about reproductive health. I am going to transfer what I learned in this workshop to every Afghan women I see from now on. I am going to stop mothers’ deaths. I thank AIL. “

Let’s put our hands together, let’s get together.

Our hands hold our votes and our votes hold our future.

My fellow citizen It’s my vote, it’s your vote

It’s a privilege for enduring peace

My dear fellow citizen, with our vote leadership is in our hands.

             On April 5^th, an historic election was held in Afghanistan. Over 7 million voters participated, and the elections were generally a peaceful affair. We at AIL hosted election workshops leading up to the vote, and asked the managers of our Learning Centers to educate students at the centers about why the vote was important, what steps they needed to take in order to vote, how to research and select candidates, and how to vote.

            The effort to encourage Afghans to vote was not limited to our workshops and Learning Centers however. At a private school owned by Dr. Sakena Yacoobi (our CEO) the Arts and Culture Teacher, Mehrjui, set a poem she had written about the election to music. The song encourages all Afghans to become aware of their responsibilities, to select a good candidate for President and to vote. The PSYPS Arts and Culture students sang this song at a celebration on International Women’s Day as well as at our election workshops. The song was incredibly well received, moving many in the audience.

            The students, staff, and administration at the school quickly realized how powerful their song was, so with the help of the AIL Academic Advisor and the AIL video production team, they set about recording their song so that it could be shared with a wider audience. They had no idea how popular the song was about to become.

            The song quickly went viral, being aired on Afghanistan’s National TV station, as well as on eleven other stations. The song has been played many times over and candidates running for president even asked if they could buy the song to use in their campaign. The PSYPS students and staff declined to sell the song, deciding the purpose of the song was to encourage all Afghans to participate in the elections, not to support just one candidate.

             As Afghanistan moves closer to a runoff election this summer, the song continues to be played on the radio and the video over the airwaves. In short, the song continues to encourage Afghans to participate in the upcoming elections and to make sure their voices are heard.

             We encourage you to take a moment to view the video made by the students, to read the lyrics below and to see the hope in these young people’s faces. After watching, we hope that you will stand with the youth of Afghanistan, and join us as we work with them to create a peaceful future for their nation. 

(Chorus Song)

Let’s put our hands together, let’s get together.

Our hands hold our votes and our votes hold our future.

With one vote, we can be our sultan, our voice

For a better choice for a better leader

My fellow citizen It’s my vote, it’s your vote

It’s a privilege for enduring peace

My dear fellow citizen, with our vote leadership is in our hand

My fellow citizen, stride, my fellow citizen!

With the name of God, we speak from the power of our thoughts

From our decision, unity, humanity and right

No longer speak of suicide bombing, explosion, but of creativity and pride

Don’t speak of the hills under the thorn

Speak of the friendship of verdant soil and the rose garden

Speak of spring, spring and spring

(Narration)

Let’s hope that this spring Afghanistan will turn into a magnificent garden. A garden in which the smell of every rose invites the world for a spectacle.

Let’s hope for a different spring, for a different year and for a different Afghanistan

Don’t forget my fellow citizen, our rendezvous is in front of ballot boxes on April 5, 2014

(Chorus Song)

Our choice is the remedy

Our choice is for the day of rendezvous

Who we want will be crowned sultan

My fellow citizen, stride, my fellow citizen!

Attend the opportunity with passion and turn the enemies into wretches

This colored finger is the guiding path and this fist is the hummer for the oppressor

My fellow citizen, stride, my fellow citizen!

Links:

• Watch the Music Video Made by the Students!!

AIL’s health program is very effective in providing needed health care and health education to underserved people in rural and urban areas of Afghanistan. Your contributions have given quality health care to people with no other options.

The health program is based on a holistic approach providing treatment and education together including:  routine care, first aid, nutrition, pharmacy, dental care, reproductive health care as well as preventive care such as vaccinations and education. In 2013, AIL treated over 194,000 people (average of 16,000 per month) at 4 fixed clinics and its mobile clinics and through its CHW program. In the same time period, AIL provided health education to over 118,000 (average of 9,800 per month) through its clinics, CHWs and workshop offerings.

The combination of health care treatment and health education has proved to be highly effective in breaking the cycle of ill health which plagues many families in the region. An example of this is AIL’s nutrition program. AIL has seen a dramatic drop in nutrition cases, especially compared to the national levels. In part this drop is due to the strong nutrition education provided and the proactive intensive nutrition program which treats the malnourished children but also teaches about correct nutrition and how to cook food and in some cases feeds children during the session. The education element is comprehensive covering safe food preparation and the importance of clean water including in formula preparation and food washing.

The 2013 health statistics from AIL show some encouraging developments. There was a 40% increase in clinic births from 2012 up by 115 births. Women are seeing clinic births as a safer option.  Vaccinations were up by 14% with 7,000 more and CHW visits also increased by 6,000 or 14%. The number of treatments by CHWs dropped for Acute Respiratory Infections by 15% and Diarrhea by 60%. These two numbers show the impact of health education in giving the people the information to take care of themselves. In the case of diarrhea the importance of clean water for food and formula preparation is always stressed as is the preference for breast feeding for the health of babies. AIL are encouraged by these changes which show the health program is being effective both in the now and in the longer term. 

Here is a story from an AIL clinic:

“The patient was called  MahJabin  a 30 years old with three children. I asked her how many children you have. She answered, “I have three children. The smallest one is my baby boy.” He looked about 6 months old. I asked her again where he was born. She told me, “When I had pains and felt that my child will be born, my family called to the administration of the clinic and asked for an ambulance to carry me to the clinic. My child was born here with much help from the midwife. I could get all the medicines freely from the clinic. Then I and my child were discharged from the clinic. Now I think if the clinic wasn’t here, I was not able to birth my child because I didn’t have any money to pay for the high expenses of other hospitals. I am thankful for all the personnel of the clinic.”

We are most grateful for the support this project has received, especially in the month of December 2013 when over $41,000 was donated. Thank you for your generosity and for your interest in Afghanistan and support for AIL’s health program.